Broncos defensive end Robert Ayers (91) just about gets a block on a Chiefs field goal last season. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

I had always carried a predilection dislike for former Kansas City Chiefs’ general manager Scott Pioli because he came from the Bill Belichick system. And the Belichick system is a sore subject around these parts.

But this piece on “The Ten Things I Learned about Being a General Manager,” as told to Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB) is a fascinating read:

Like the 49ers’ cornerbacks, I woke up with Peyton Manning on my mind.

Blaring from the other room, as my girlfriend prepared for work, were the exceedingly glee anchors on NBC’s “Today” show, gushing about Peyton’s rap video. And all I could think was — at least this is a nice escape from Wes Welker.

Thursday night, mercifully, there is an actual game (though it’s not an actual actual game), with the Broncos playing at the 49ers. But for now, everyone is talking about Welker being mocked by Bill Belichick and Manning mocking Color Me Badd.

The new Broncos wide receiver told Sports Illustrated that last season, the Patriots coach would admonish him in front of the team.

“It was just kind of hard,” Welker told SI, “one of those deals where you have to endure him, put up with him. I felt like there came a point where he was (voice tails off) … But he does it to everybody, it’s the way he is.”

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley answers a question during a news conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013.

INDIANAPOLIS — I just listened to the NFL scouting combine press conference for new Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley. The man was impressive: He’s not afraid to answer questions without cliches. And he has a strong, but non-threatening presence.

It must have been his time in Durango. Bradley was defensive coordinator at Fort Lewis College from 1992-95. He didn’t join the NFL until 2006, so he’s on a bit of a fast track at the top level. He was the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive coordinator the previous four seasons.

Broncos coach John Fox likes to say that after 24 NFL seasons, nothing surprises. But this was shocking.

Patrick Chukwurah, a Broncos’ special teams player and backup linebacker/defensive end from 2003-06, has signed with the Seattle Seahawks, who are still alive in the playoffs as the league’s lowest seed. Chuckwurah last played in the NFL in 2007 with Tampa Bay.

the No. 5-seeded Seahawks will play Sunday at No. 1 seeded Atlanta in an NFC second-round playoff game Sunday.

It might be the classic, which-came-first, chicken-or-the-egg question. The one about whether or not a potential Hall of Fame coach needs a potential Hall of Fame quarterback, or vice versa.

But in the shadow of Sunday’s Tom Brady-Peyton Manning matchup — just the second time when two quarterbacks with at least 125 career wins faced each other in a game — the answer in the post-1960 NFL appears to be that the coach needs the quarterback to reach pro football’s highest career honor.

And that’s good news for Patriots coach Bill Belichick, as are the three Super Bowl rings on his fingers with Brady behind center.

New England coach Bill Belichick is one of those “kill ’em with kindness” type of guys when it comes to talking about the opposition.

But it sounds like he genuinely means all the things he said about Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey today. Bailey has played in eight games against the Patriots, dating back to 2003 when he was with the Redskins, and including two postseason games. In those games, his teams are 5-3, and Bailey has made 15 total tackles, has eight pass breakups, 1 forced fumble, and 1 interception. I think we all remember that interception.

I’ll let you just read Belichick’s answer to a question about Bailey for yourself, because the usually terse coach was quite expansive:

No matter what the Seahawks say, no one liked their draft… Mike Shanahan’s most hated team, the Raiders, didn’t pick until after the true third round portion, so what could they have gotten?… As for Shanahan’s Redskins, their drafts for years to come are pretty much dependent on the success of Robert Griffin III.

It’s not secret the Broncos’ read-option offense presents a unique challenge to opposing defenses. If you go by what Bill Belichick has said this week, the Patriots will face the same conundrum.

See what he had to say Thursday from the Pats’ headquarters, as New England tried to counter Tim Tebow and crew. And The Denver Post’s Lindsay Jones goes through what Denver needs to do to counter New England’s counter:

FOXBOROUGH, Mass — By the way Patriots coach Bill Belichick talked about the Broncos Tuesday morning, you’d have thought it was Denver who won the last meeting between the two teams in December.

It was classic Belichick here at Gillette Stadium, with nothing but overwhelming praise for the upcoming opponent. In this case, that’s the Broncos, a team the Patriots beat 41-23 on Dec. 18 in Denver.

“They were good when we played them before. They’re still good,” Belichick said. There are a lot of things they are doing better.”

Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow kneels in prayer prior to last Sunday's game against the Bears.

This morning’s Tim Tebow media smorgasbord has a little bit of everything, from a pastor who once hosted Tim Tebow’s father saying the Broncos’ victories are because of “God’s favor,” to a Kim Kardashian reference from a writer at the business magazine Forbes, to the Patriots trying to find someone to imitate Tebow in practice this week.

Let’s start with the pastor, Wayne Hanson. According to the TMZ website, Hanson — who runs Summit Church in Castle Rock — God is actively intervening in Broncos football games.

Marion Barber's third-quarter touchdown came against the Broncos' nickel package.

The run game is more decorative for the Patriots than it is for most teams, especially since they spend so much time throwing out of three-wide receiver or two tight end formations. Overall, New England has thrown 154 more passes than it has had rushing attempts this season.

So, what the Bears were able to do at times Sunday will likely have some bearing on this week’s affair.

The Bears, trying to protect a struggling passing offense and inexperienced quarterback, ran plenty of times against the Broncos’ nickel package — five defensive backs — and they did it with some success.

The No. 2 spot in the 32-team waiver pecking order turned out to be one spot too low for the Broncos in their claim of former New England cornerback Darius Butler.

A second-round draft pick (No. 41 overall) in the 2009 draft, Butler was in high demand once the Patriots waived him Saturday. Four teams claimed him: Carolina, Denver, San Francisco and Jacksonville. He was awarded to Carolina because the Panthers have the No. 1 spot in the waiver claim order.

Kyle Orton has one year left on his Broncos contract. Is that enough time to reach the playoffs?

The Denver Post on Thursday will release a 16-page Broncos and NFL preview, breaking down team needs and John Elway’s vision for where the team will head. Find it in a special print section and online at denverpost.com/broncos.

The Chargers were one of the most active teams in free agency, signing 13 veteran players. Before the 2010 season, the Chargers signed only five veteran free agents. If they get a contribution from safety Bob Sanders (age 30) and linebacker Takeo Spikes (34), the Chargers will return to their familiar perch atop the division. Prediction: 10-6

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs took a slow, steady approach to training camp this year. That strategy will be beneficial if they stay healthier than their AFC brethren. The bigger issue for the defending division champions is the constant rumblings that coach Todd Haley and general manager Scott Pioli are butting heads — a sure recipe for failure over the long haul. Prediction: 8-8

Bring Jim Harbaugh home with him from Miami and John Elway goes from inexperienced Broncos front-office boss to leading candidate for NFL executive of the year.

Shouldn’t the Broncos, with the Stanford-alum Elway about to head up their front office and in possession of the No. 2 overall draft choice, take their mightiest cuts at attempting to land Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Andrew Luck — the NFL equivalent of back-to-back grand slams?

If Harbaugh wants to join his brother John in the NFL head coaching fraternity, the timing will never be better than it is now. Jim Harbaugh is the hottest NFL head coaching candidate since Jason Garrett following the 2007 season.

The Denver Post spoke to Barrett after practice Friday morning, and Barrett said he already had surgery scheduled for early next week at the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic to repair his injured left shoulder.

Barrett was bothered by a shoulder injury through much of 2009 and then spent nearly all of his offseason here in Denver going through rehab at Dove Valley. He passed his physical and said his shoulder felt great as camp opened on Aug. 1. After only a couple of practices, though, the shoulder injury flared up again and he and the team decided season-ending surgery was the only answer.

Now, it seems, those decisions are on hold and will need to be re-made by the Patriots.

At least one member of the New England staff is familiar with Barrett. Scott O’Brien was the Broncos’ special teams coach in 2008, when the team drafted Barrett out of Arizona State.

Barrett’s main role in Denver in 2008 and 2009 was on special teams, particularly on the punt and kickoff coverage units.

On the Broncos coaching staff, it is the job that comes with the short straw.

Because since Mike Shanahan fired Larry Coyer as the team’s defensive coordinator following the 2006 season — Shanahan believed Coyer had gone too easy on some Broncos players in the postseason analysis after the Broncos had gone 2-5 down the stretch to finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs — the position has become a one-and-done deal.

There was Jim Bates in 2007, who had even been given the assistant head coach title. But he didn’t even make it out of the season’s first half before Shanahan was in the defensive meeting room stirring things up because of the Broncos couldn’t stop the run. The Broncos eventually finished 30th in the league in run defense that year.

Bates was offered a demotion for ’08 and and told he would no longer call the defensive plays so he decided to leave instead. So, Bob Slowik was the defensive coordinator in ’08 and was then fired along with Shanahan and most of Shanahan’s staff after and 8-8 finish when the team couldn’t stop anything. The Broncos finished 27th against the run, 26th against the pass, 29th overall and 30th in scoring defense.

So Mike Nolan was tabbed this past season to oversee the switch to the 3-4 and he’s out because, in essence, he wanted to do a little more overseeing the defensive plan than Josh McDaniels wanted him to –the kind of football break-up that is always termed an amicable “parting of ways.” And there was the little matter the Broncos again couldn’t stop the run, finishing 26th in the league in run defense.

So Dean Pees is next. Pees, having parted ways with the Patriots in recent days — amicably as well — runs the kind of 3-4 scheme McDaniels wants, has worked with McDaniels before and was a long-time college assistant before joining Bill Belichick’s staff in New England in 2004.

It has been an NFL tradition at times for a head coach to make life tough on the opposite of the ball that he oversees. The former defensive coordinators in charge often change offensive coordinators plenty, figuring they can fix any defensive problems on their own, while the former offensive coordinators — like Shanahan and McDaniels — always seem to be running the defensive coordinators through the office turnstiles.

But the bottom line is the Broncos had four different defensive coordinators in the last four seasons, with Pees set to be the fifth in five years. So the only things they have consistently done over that time is be unable to stop the run and pushing out the guy who was in charge of that.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.